CTEK response to Ground Connection question

[moorejl57]

So my question is if you need a $100 smart charger or just a $20.00 walmart charger hooking it up through the BMS. A smart charger needs direct battery connections to desulfate and manage other functons along with full capacity maintenence. Going through the 70% BMS makes all that useless as the BMS system takes care of that and just really needs bulk voltage. I was getting ready to order a CTECH but now it looks to me like that this hookup cancels all the features and just gives you a couple fake lights that are canceled out by the BMS to look at making it a big waste of money. I am thinking just putting a CTECH connector on my old charger and let the truck BMS do the job.

I would still get a quality charger that has an AGM mode. The BMS sensor doesn't do much of anything to control charging unless the truck is running. I am looking at the NOCO 5 amp charger/conditioner that I can mount inside the engine compartment. It is ~ $70.

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[Bsthroop]

So my question is if you need a $100 smart charger or just a $20.00 walmart charger hooking it up through the BMS. A smart charger needs direct battery connections to desulfate and manage other functons along with full capacity maintenence. Going through the 70% BMS makes all that useless as the BMS system takes care of that and just really needs bulk voltage. I was getting ready to order a CTECH but now it looks to me like that this hookup cancels all the features and just gives you a couple fake lights that are canceled out by the BMS to look at making it a big waste of money. I am thinking just putting a CTECH connector on my old charger and let the truck BMS do the job.

This on is about $50 on Amazon and works great. NOCO GENIUS2D, 2-Amp Direct-Mount Onboard Charger, 12V Automotive Car Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger and Battery Desulfator with Temperature Compensation https://a.co/d/gvN2erG

 

[Fordup]

So that BMS device is really just a dumb sensor and passes everything through allowing a charger to bring the battery to 100% from 70% when on the charger. It sure seems that cycling from 70 to 100% capacity constantly after every use would shorten the batteries life span considerably. I could see doing this on Li batteries but on AGM batteries with a limited number of cycles it's going to hurt. Here I thought that BMS device had some smarts and control to extend battery life. I guess Ford likes selling replacement batteries every 3 years now. My old F350 batteries lasted 10 years on a dumb system. I learn something new every day

 

[ctechbob]

So that BMS device is really just a dumb sensor and passes everything through allowing a charger to bring the battery to 100% from 70% when on the charger. It sure seems that cycling from 70 to 100% capacity constantly after every use would shorten the batteries life span considerably. I could see doing this on Li batteries but on AGM batteries with a limited number of cycles it's going to hurt. Here I thought that BMS device had some smarts and control to extend battery life. I guess Ford likes selling replacement batteries every 3 years now. My old F350 batteries lasted 10 years on a dumb system. I learn something new every day

No, the BMS 'system' has enough smarts to increase the EPA fuel economy rating a tiny amount. That is all it is for. It isn't for extending the life of anything.

And yes, the thing attached to the battery is simply a sensor, it has no control whatsoever over what happens with the current flowing through it.

 

[dtech]

So that BMS device is really just a dumb sensor and passes everything through allowing a charger to bring the battery to 100% from 70% when on the charger. It sure seems that cycling from 70 to 100% capacity constantly after every use would shorten the batteries life span considerably. I could see doing this on Li batteries but on AGM batteries with a limited number of cycles it's going to hurt. Here I thought that BMS device had some smarts and control to extend battery life. I guess Ford likes selling replacement batteries every 3 years now. My old F350 batteries lasted 10 years on a dumb system. I learn something new every day

I see more negative than positive benefits with the BMS so I disc'd it maybe 2 yrs back, I can tell you that my battery does charge to 100% and according to a battery tester it's still ~ 80% output . When the truck is used for short trips I'll often put on the trickle charger and it doesn't take but an hour or two to be fully charged. I decided yrs back to get educated on batteries since I was replacing Saab batteries every 3 yrs, the culprit was excessive underhood temps - IIRC around 120F sulfation starts to occur, in the summer after shutdown and garage door closed underhood temps were well over 120 degrees, began to leave garage door opened and trickle charge occasionally and batt life extended to 5 yrs. Lots of variables with battery life but sulfation is what does most in and this occurs when the battery is consistently not charged to 100% (Ford Ranger with bms) and/or excessive battery temps

 

[Trigganometry]

Our BMS sensors are really hall sensors. They read current flow and are only active when the truck is on. That’s what controls current coming from alternator. Factory has the system set to charge to 70% of full charge. Setting is in Forscan to change. A trickle charger designed for AGM battery’s is what you want to be using as an external charger. The chargers can sense capacity and regulate themselves so the end of the charge cycle is ramped down on current flow and gradually tops off battery. A normal lead acid battery charger will reduce our battery’s life considerably as they are usually non regulated

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